‘Maybe Happy Ending' Casting Change Ignites Debate About Representation
But the show's recent decision to cast Andrew Barth Feldman, a white actor, as one of the helperbots after the current actor in the role, Darren Criss, who is of Filipino descent, departs next month has raised alarms among Asian American actors and spurred a weeklong conversation about representation. Feldman ('Dear Evan Hansen,' 'No Hard Feelings'), who is scheduled to step into the production for nine weeks starting Sept. 2, is also the boyfriend of the musical's lead actress, Helen J Shen.
'Maybe Happy Ending' opened on Broadway last fall, and seven of the show's eight actors (four onstage and four understudies) are currently played by actors of Asian American, Native Hawaiian and/or Pacific Islander descent.
In a statement, the show said that casting and production decisions were the result of 'thoughtful deliberations' by its creative team. 'We are proud to have created a show where every role can authentically be portrayed by an Asian actor, although the roles of the robots were not envisioned to always be cast that way,' the statement read. 'We also appreciate that, for many within the A.A.P.I. community, seeing the original Broadway cast represented an inspiring milestone of visibility and representation.'
A separate lengthy statement was posted on social media early Thursday, and in the comments, fans and supporters debated the decision. This year three Asian American performers (Nicole Scherzinger, Darren Criss and Francis Jue) won Tony Awards in three acting categories, which was a first; four other Asian American actors were also nominated.
Amid the dialogue about representation, Conrad Ricamora, a star of the Broadway play 'Oh, Mary!,' took action. Last weekend, he started a scholarship fund called 'The Right to Be There' for Asian American men pursuing an acting degree. He said in an attached letter that he had been carrying grief from being told that he did not belong.
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